About the Company

Headquartered in New York City, Send Word Now is the leading worldwide provider of enterprise communications services. Our easy-to-use, web-based and mobile solutions are deployed by businesses, government agencies, universities and non-profit organizations to ensure fast, effective communication when it is needed the most.

Send Word Now was founded in 2001, by a group of individuals who recognized the need for immediate, reliable and multimodal crisis communications after the tragedies of September 11, 2001. Since that time, organizations across the globe have faced a multitude of natural and man-made disruptions, creating a heightened focus on business continuity, regulatory compliance, security and the ability to audit information flow.

Further, today’s borderless business environment and increasingly mobile workforce have surfaced new needs for operations-focused communication and collaboration. Send Word Now is successfully transforming the way organizations communicate globally, both for emergency situations, and for every day, time-sensitive interactions.

Our enterprise-class emergency notification system is capable of transmitting tens of thousands of voice and text messages in minutes, while providing a full audit trail for after action reporting and follow-up. Our mobile conferencing, collaboration and workflow solutions keep employees informed and connected to the people and information they need. And, everything is backed by our 100% Uptime reliability guarantee, and unmatched 24x7x365 customer support.

In emergencies, or every day. When rapid, effective communication is essential for success, rely on Send Word Now for innovative, secure and reliable notification and collaboration solutions.

Why We're Different

Unparalleled Reliability

Send Word Now built its service from the ground up to be redundant and available. We offer geographically dispersed, active-active data centers and an unprecedented 100% Uptime Guarantee Service Level Agreement for every customer we serve.

Unmatched Security

Protecting your employee and customer data is of highest priority. It’s why we uniquely offer unmatched security features such as at-rest data encryption. We’re DIACAP certified by the U.S. Department of Defense. If they can trust our security measures, so can you.

Greater Ease of Use

Send Word Now provides the easiest, most intuitive user interface on the market. Our Feature-by-Account flexibility allows customers to choose from a wide range of options, and only see what they really need. Basic skills take only minutes to learn and are easily retained.

Superior Customer Support

Every customer is assigned a dedicated Customer Support Manager (CSM) and has access to live skilled software experts 24x7x365. CSMs can even launch notifications for you. Customer retention rates exceed 95%, reflecting our commitment to superior customer satisfaction.

Better International Features

Our solution is designed with the global organization in mind. From our multilingual capabilities to our unique International Affiliate Testing Network, Send Word Now is better able to handle the demands of communicating with international stakeholders.

Bolder Innovations

You demand a provider who will push the boundaries. We have an impressive history of innovation. From being the first to offer integrated weather alerting, to SWN Direct, our new groundbreaking mobile app for recipients, our commitment to technology leadership continues.

Meet the Team

Tony Schmitz

President and CEO

Tony Schmitz has been an entrepreneur and business executive since 1983, creating and building value for technology companies across the New York region. He was a founder and principal of three technology companies that have been acquired by publicly traded companies.

Before coming to Send Word Now, Schmitz was the founder and CEO of Insight First, a web analytics firm that was acquired by 24/7 Real Media in January of 2003. After the sale, he became President and CTO of 24/7’s Technology Division. Schmitz joined 24/7’s Board of Directors in October 2004 and remained on the Board through July 2007, when the company was sold to WPP.

In October of 2004, Schmitz became a founding General Partner of Pine Street Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, where he remains a Managing Director. He is also on the Board of StreetEasy.com, a New York City-based real estate web portal.

Since 2004, Schmitz has been an advisor to Send Word Now, and he brings over 25 years of experience as a successful entrepreneur, investor and technologist to the company. After joining the Board of Directors in early 2007, he was appointed to the position of CEO later that year. In his time as President and CEO of the company, he has overseen a strong period of growth while adding both value and vision to the company’s performance.

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Alex Tsepetis

Chief Technology Officer

Alex Tsepetis joined Send Word Now in the spring of 2010 as Chief Technology Officer. Tsepetis has been working in mission-critical technology environments for over 15 years. His experiences span various industry verticals including financial services, travel, and interactive marketing.

Tsepetis was Senior Vice President of Engineering at Reprise Media, Inc., and has held leadership positions in large publicly traded organizations, such as 24/7 Real Media, in addition to many successful start-ups.

He is an execution-focused executive with a keen understanding of large-scale data management and distributed systems.

Tsepetis graduated from the Honors College at SUNY Stony Brook with a BS in Physics.

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Christine Dye

Chief Financial Officer

​Christine Dye joined Send Word Now in 2014 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Previously, Dye worked for Citrix Online, the online services division of Citrix Systems Inc. Most recently, she served as Finance Director and part of the leadership team for GoToAssist™, a leader in the remote support market. She also spent three years inside the company’s Audio Conferencing division.

Before Citrix, Dye worked as Controller for Vapps, an audio conferencing start-up which was acquired by Citrix, and spent ten years as CFO for Answer America LLC, a national telecommunications company.

Dye holds a BS in Accounting from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and is a CPA in the state of North Carolina.

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Danielle Putis

Senior Vice President – Sales

Danielle Putis manages global sales for Send Word now, which encompasses the Regional Sales Managers and National Accounts teams. Her focus is to build new-client revenue and strengthen loyalty within the customer base.

Putis brings to the company over ten years' experience in the software and web-based services industries, with a strong emphasis on Client Relations and Sales.

Prior to joining Send Word Now, she was the Manager of National Accounts at Sterling InfoSystems Inc., a pre-employment background screening company. She also spent six years with MicroEdge, Inc., a division of Advent Software.

Putis received a BA in Communication from Stonehill College.

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Lorin Bristow

Senior Vice President - Marketing

Lorin Bristow has more than twenty years of experience leading top technology companies in marketing, product management, strategic planning, and operations. For the past decade, Bristow has helped drive growth of leading critical communications system and service providers.

Prior to joining Send Word Now, Bristow served as Managing Partner with Galain Solutions, Inc., an independent consulting firm focused on emergency notification, stakeholder engagement, and selling to government. He is co-author of the popular book Seven Myths of Selling to Government. He also served as a senior consultant to the FEMA Integrated Public Alerts and Warnings (IPAWS) program and the affiliated Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS).

Before this, Bristow served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Unit Development for a business continuity and public safety emergency notification provider, participating on the acquisition team that resulted in a successful company sale.

He is a frequent author and speaker on emergency notification and has co-authored a widely-followed blog on alerts and warnings for Emergency Management magazine. Bristow is also a Senior Fellow for the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology in state and local government. He is a U.S. patent holder for a mobile notification technology.

Bristow holds a BBA in Marketing from Harding University, and an MBA from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

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Marnie Barber

Senior Vice President - Operations

Marnie Barber joined Send Word Now as a Customer Support Manager in January 2008 and was elevated to the role of Senior Vice President of Global Customer Support in June 2014. She was named Senior Vice President of Operations in January of 2015.

Prior to Send Word Now, Barber worked for Intelligent System Solutions Inc. (ISS), a software development company providing custom software solutions, network design/support, and IT staffing. While at ISS, Barber simultaneously worked as the primary IT Recruiter, Network Client Liaison, as well as Business Analyst. Due to her understanding of client goals and the customized software functionality, Marnie also developed client-customized on-line documentation for all software applications.

After six years with ISS, Barber became an Associate Partner at Cipher Associates, a new ISS business venture, where, in addition to maintaining previous job responsibilities, she worked to build strategic partnerships and opportunities.

Barber graduated Cum Laude with a BA in Mathematics from the State University of New York at Albany.

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Board of Directors

Tony Schmitz

President and CEO, Send Word Now

Tony Schmitz has been an advisor to Send Word Now since 2004 and joined the board in early 2007; he brings nearly twenty-five years of experience as a successful entrepreneur, investor and technologist to the company. He was appointed to the position of CEO in late 2007.
Schmitz has been an entrepreneur and executive since 1983, focused primarily on creating and building value for technology companies. Mr. Schmitz was a founder/principal of three technology companies that were acquired by publicly traded companies.

Most recently, Schmitz was the founder/CEO of Insight First, a web analytics firm, that was acquired by 24/7 Real Media in January 2003. After the sale, Schmitz was President and CTO of 24/7’s Technology Division. Schmitz joined 24/7’s Board of Directors in October 2004 and remained on the Board through July 2007 when the company was sold to WPP.

In October 2004 Schmitz was a founding General Partner of Pine Street Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm where he remains a Managing Director. Schmitz is also on the board of StreetEasy.com, a New York City-based real estate web portal.

Jeffrey D. Serkes

Chief Operating Officer, Palisade Capital Management

Jeffrey Serkes is Chief Operating Officer of Palisade Capital Management. He Joined Palisade Capital in February 2007 and is a Principal and member of the Investment Policy Committee.

Prior to joining Palisade, he was Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Allegheny Energy, Inc. from 2003 to 2006. From 1994 through 2002, Mr. Serkes was at IBM Corporation, where he served as Vice President & Treasurer and Vice President, Finance, Sales & Distribution.

Prior to IBM, he worked in a variety of treasury and finance positions with RJR Nabisco, Inc. and the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.

Mr. Serkes received his MBA. in Finance from the Rutgers Graduate School of Business, where he currently serves on the Board of Advisers, and his BBA in Accounting from The George Washington University.

Lowell A. Mintz

Chairman and Co-Founder, QED Technologies, Inc.

Lowell Mintz is one of Send Word Now's lead investors. Mr. Mintz currently is Chairman and Co-Founder of QED Technologies, Inc., a Rochester, NY manufacturer of patented finishing equipment and software for the high-end optics industry. He also is Chairman and owner of Byelocorp Scientific, Inc., dealing with non-proliferation defense conversion and transfer of scientific technology from the former-Soviet Union.

He is senior partner in Mintz & Co., a privately held investment and trading company. He also owned and operated a commodity futures floor brokerage firm for 25 years.

Previously, Mr. Mintz was Chairman of the Board of Governors of Commodity Exchange, Inc. He is still a member of both New York futures exchanges.

Mr. Mintz earned a BA from Rollins College.

Brian Maloney

President, Unisys Global Industries

Brian Maloney has most recently taken on a role with Unisys Corp. (NYSE:UIS) as president of Unisys Global Industries, a new organization that will combine the company's global financial services, commercial and public sector businesses. Mr. Maloney previously served as the Chief Operating Officer of Perot Systems from March 2002 until October 2004. During his tenure with Perot, Mr. Maloney had responsibility for the company's market-facing activities including its major vertical industry concentrations: financial services, healthcare, industrial services and strategic markets, its global infrastructure support unit, its India-based software development and maintenance unit, its BPO unit and its consulting business. He directed the Perot Systems operations across all 40 countries in which the firm conducted business.

Mr. Maloney joined Perot Systems after 24 years with AT&T, where he served as Senior Vice President of AT&T, and President and CEO of AT&T Solutions, the multi-billion dollar networking professional services and outsourcing arm of AT&T.

Mr. Maloney serves as a director of Globecomm Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: GCOM) where he is the chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee and a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees. He is also a director of VisionTEK, a privately held information technology company, an advisor to Tech Mahindra, an India-based software development firm, and an advisor to Aregea, Inc., an outsourcing advisory firm. In addition, he is the Vice Chairman of the Board of the Thomas Edison State College Foundation in New Jersey and a director of The Boy Scouts of America – Greater New York Council.

Send Word Now, the Send Word Now logo, Alert Tracer, WeatherBlast and Every Message Counts are registered trademarks of Send Word Now. All other trademarks, service marks, registered marks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners, and their use on our website does not imply endorsement of Send Word Now or its products or services.